Stern Grove kicking off 75th season of free concerts

Stern Grove begins its 75th season of free outdoor summer concerts on Sunday. The grove, at 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard, is a San Francisco institution in an unrivaled setting.

For 75 years the Stern Grove Festival has presented free concerts for 10 summer Sundays in an outdoor amphitheatre. They pack 14,000 people in here and the programming is quite eclectic, from classical to pop. The San Francisco Ballet is a regular at the Stern Grove Festival. So are the San Francisco Opera and the San Francisco Symphony. This year will also feature Anita Baker and OK Go.

The Stern family is related to the Levi Strauss family. Mrs. Stern gave the grove to the city in the 1930's as showcase for art and culture.